


Of Friendship and Affection

by Breyito



Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017)
Genre: 'Guy in the chair' Ned, Canon-Typical Violence, Gen, Karen (AI), Mild Language, Peter Parker is a Smol Bean, Peter does too, Post-Canon, Precious Peter Parker, Protective Tony Stark, Tony Stark Gets a Hug, Tony Stark is Good With Kids, i guess?, tony stark is a little shit
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-16
Updated: 2018-02-16
Packaged: 2019-03-19 13:14:04
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 9,706
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13705209
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Breyito/pseuds/Breyito
Summary: After the secret is out of the bag (literally), Peter has to include his Aunt on the superhero thing. Tony is all for it, especially if it means getting to see embarrassing photos of his newest protegé. Giving life advice is not something Tony is particularly good at; but fortunately, when it comes to best friends he’s had a pretty good run.(His health might not be ready for all the mini-heart attacks this kid gives him on a daily basis, though.)





	Of Friendship and Affection

**Author's Note:**

> Hello!!!  
> So this is my contribution to the first 'Peter & Tony Big Bang' round.  
> I've been working on this for a long time, and it became so much larger than I first thought it would be! I'm so excited to share this with all of you ^^  
> I had the pleasure to work with the amazing Nat as the artist. Go check her stuff! You can find her at hereandnowwearealive.tumblr.com  
> I hope you like the story!  
> BTW, this is set after Spider-Man: Homecoming; but in between the fight with the Vulture and Happy picking Peter from school there's a two week window, where Peter has gone out many nights (in his old suit) with Ned as his back-up.

“So” Aunt May started; after all the screaming died down a bit. “Who else knows about this ‘hero-business’?” she asked. Peter knew she already suspected Mr. Stark (the date of his brand-new scholarship and the Leipzig Airport battle was too close to deny anything); she just wanted him to confirm it.

“Well…Ned and…Mr. Stark are the ones that know.” _Besides Mr. Toomes, the Vulture, who had zero issues with killing me_ , he thought. Yeah, maybe leave that detail for later.

“Mr. Stark. Of _course_ he knows. How else would you have a suit like that? It’s his tech, isn’t it?” at Peter’s nod, she got up and started pacing. “He is a manipulative bastard! How can he force you to-to _do_ this just to get a scholarship!?”

“Ma-”

“I have to go to the police. Tell them what he’s doing.”

“ _May-_ ”

“No, no, not the police.” Peter relaxed. Bad move. “The police won’t believe me; or Stark can buy them. The _news_ , I have to go to the news. They will air the story-”

“ _Aunt May!_ ” Peter yelled. She suddenly stopped and looked at him with wide eyes. “Aunt May, please, sit down.” She did. “Listen to me; ok? I got these powers _months_ before meeting Tony Stark. The reason I met him at all is because I was…stopping crime and catching buses with my bare hands and people recorded it and posted those videos online. He tracked it down to me. He never _forced_ me to do anything, okay?”

“But…but what about that retreat? He took you to Germany, didn’t he?” She asked. “He gave you that suit and made you go, right? He…he took you into a battle against the _Avengers!_ You could have been hurt! Colonel Rhodes got paralyzed…oh my god, that could have been you!” Peter could see that May was starting to get mad again, so he quickly intervened.

“It wasn’t supposed to be a battle at all. I was just there to web feet together and ‘increase numbers’. Mr. Stark never thought Rogers would take things that far.”

“Never mind that! You are a _minor_. And he gave you a, a _super suit_ and led you to battle; and then let you _keep_ the armored suit!”

“He _knew_ that I was never going to stop trying to help people!” May tried to say something but Peter interrupted her. “Going against a mugger, with-with a knife-”

“ _Knife!?_ ” she choked out.

“-or or a gun-”

“A _gun!?_ Peter, oh my _god_ -!”

“-would you rather me wearing pajamas or a full Kevlar suit? A, a suit that can warm me up when it’s cold and contacts Mr. Stark _immediately_ if things go wrong and has this _amazing_ AI that helps me with everything I ask her to and…” he drifted off. He swallowed and looked into his aunt’s eyes. “Mr. Stark has been taking care of me. He tried to keep his distance to not give me more ideas than the ones I already have, but you can see that it didn’t work.” May snorted a little laugh. “Aunt May…he realized the second he confronted me that I wasn’t going to stop. Because I’m not. And he saw that and decided to help me and protect me.”

May stayed quiet for a long time, before she exhaled and nodded to herself; her mind resolved.

“…Aunt May?” Peter asked, nervous.

“I’m guessing you have Mr. Stark’s phone number?” she asked, standing. Peter nodded. “Well, I think it’s time he and I have a talk, about training sessions and responsibility. Come, Peter.” With that, she left the room. Peter swallowed, contemplating whether he could just go live under a bridge to avoid the humiliation of his aunt _lecturing_ Mr. Stark.

“Peter!” May yelled from the living room, impatient.

Yeah, probably not.

\---{}---

\---{}---

\---{}---

“Mr. Stark!” Peter said, surprised, after opening the door of his apartment.

“Hello, kid.” Tony smiled at him, amused.

“What are you doing here?” the teen asked nervously, looking back at the living room, where his Aunt May was. She turned and smiled at the engineer.

“I invited him” she answered. “I thought dinner might be a good time for the three of us to talk about responsibility and your training regime in person.” She waved Tony in, and Peter just stood there, frozen for a moment; then he closed the door.

 _Man, this won’t be good for me_ , he thought, grimacing.

“Tony, you shouldn’t have bothered!” he heard May say, peaking in the bags the engineer had passed to her. “I told you I wanted to cook.”

“Exactly” Tony answered. Peter swallowed a snort. “I thought you shouldn’t come home after working all day in a hospital (I’m sure that’s very exhausting) and have to cook on top of that.” He added, with a winning smile. _Smooth_ , Peter thought.

“Well, thank you. This Italian looks great. I didn’t know _Paola’s_ made take out.”

“They don’t, unless it’s for me.” The engineer winked. “My mother was friends with the owner for decades. She’s known me since before I could walk.”

“That’s cute.” Aunt May said, with a glint in her eyes. “Maybe I should show you some photos of Peter before he could walk, after dinner.”

“What!? No!” yelled the teen, embarrassed.

“Oh, I’d _love_ that.” Tony laughed. Peter huffed and left the kitchen, towards his bedroom.

He didn’t realize the other man was following him until it was too late.

“So" Tony started, looking around the teen's bedroom "that 'really old movie' uh?" he said, with a smug ass grin on his face as he walked to the desk; where the Lego Death Star sat proudly. Peter's cheeks went bright red.

" _Ididn'twantyoutothinkIwasanerd_." The kid muttered, looking down.

"Sorry; what was that?" said the inventor, putting his hand around his ear "I couldn't hear it because I am really _old_." he laughed.

"Mr. Stark!" Peter whined, face flaming red. "Stop it" he mumbled with his face buried in a pillow.

"Alright, alright, I'll stop." he chuckled.

“Uff. I didn’t want you to think I was a nerd, alright? I had _just_ met you; my life-long hero, and you asked me to join the _Avengers_ on a _mission_ , and took me to _Germany_ even though I had never been out of the country; and you gave me this _crazy_ new suit and then we were in the middle of a _fight_ with the _other_ Avengers and Colonel Rhodes was on the comms with us and I had a part of a plan but it was because of this movie that most of my classmates have never seen and laugh at us because we did and…and you were all so _cool_ and I was already the youngest person there and I didn’t want to seem like a such nerd.” Peter finishes his rant, only breathing then.

There were a few moments of silence and Peter felt his face (which had gone back to a quasi-normal in his speech) go slowly back to a tomato red.

"First of all; w- _ow_.” Tony said, eyes wide. “I’ve never met another person (besides myself) that could talk for two minutes without breathing before.” Then he took a deep breath “And two; you _do_ know who you are working with, right?” he laughed “You really think that Rhodey and I are anything _but_ nerds? We both graduated MIT (even if I started at 14). We got to watch the original Star Wars trilogy on theaters (even if we were nothing but kids). We went to see ‘Star Trek V: The Final Frontier’ on the first weekend (good god; that makes me sound so fucking old). He is a legit rocket scientist. I build robots and have been creating AIs since I was 17. If there’s something we’re never going to laugh at you for, is for being a nerd. Because so are we, kid. And we are the _coolest_.” He winked.

Peter didn’t know if he should be relieved, laugh hysterically or go back to bury his head in the pillow by his side.

“Hurry up, kiddo. I’m sure the food’s ready. Besides, your Aunt said she wanted to show me some pictures of you, and I don’t want to miss the opportunity.” Tony said from the doorway.

Living with his head in the pillow sounded great right about now. _Just a normal Friday family dinner, right?_ Peter thought sarcastically, groaning into the fabric.

\---{}---

The dinner went surprisingly okay, actually. Mr. Stark brought enough food to make _him_ feel full, and it was so delicious Peter was already thinking about a midnight snack. They even had _gelato!_

Yes, dinner went great. Which meant that whatever happened _afterwards_ was not going to be good for him. Peter, unfortunately, didn’t know that. So when he, after brushing his teeth and putting on his pajamas, went to say goodbye to his aunt and Mr. Stark, was completely unprepared for what he saw. May and Mr. Stark were sitting on the couch, his aunt holding open an album- _his baby album_ and showing it to the other man.

“And here it’s the robot Richard (his father) bought him for his second birthday.” She pointed to another picture. “Ooh! We took this one because he picked the flower in the park and wouldn’t let go of it until his mother came home.” Tony had a big grin on his face and a particular shine in his eyes, looking at the pictures, thinking about how adorable the kid was, even as an squishy and drooling miniature human.

Peter froze on the threshold and then made a strangled noise so high Aunt May jumped thinking it was a mouse (he would deny until forever that the noise came from him, though).

“ _Aunt May!_ ” he yelled. “How could you!?” he asked, rushing to take the sky blue monstrosity, full of incriminating and mortifying pictures of his earlier years, out of the enemy’s hands. But Tony took the damned thing from May and danced away. Cue an impromptu chase in the living room, with Peter trying his best to grab the album and the engineer laughing and twirling, looking at more and more pictures. He even _cooed_ at them!

Aunt May looked on from the couch, amused and entertained. Peter could feel his face flaming at every turned page. Then the inventor suddenly stopped cold.

“You had an Iron Man mask?” Tony asked; eyes wide open. “And cut-off gloves painted as repulsors?” he continued, pale all of the sudden.

“…Yes?” Peter answered, confused.

“You were that kid at the expo…” Mr. Stark murmured, looking straight into Peter’s eyes. Peter didn’t understand why the engineer would look at him with such intensity over a simple _mask_ \- then he remembered, and froze again. He looked over at May, whom had a weird expression on her face.

“Um, y-yeah, I went to the 2010 expo. Uncle _Ben_ took me.” He said, hoping Tony would understand and not say a word about the crazy robot almost killing him. “May was working and couldn’t come.”

“…Oh” said Tony. “Right.” He glanced at the nurse, and cleared his throat. “Sorry, bad memories” he said. His smile looked a bit forced, but May took care of that when she commented that neither she nor Ben could convince Peter to take off that mask for anything else than eating for two weeks. Peter gladly took the embarrassment over that dark look on Mr. Stark’s eyes.

And when the engineer rushed to leave the apartment; Peter excused himself to his bedroom and waited for him to say his goodbyes. When Tony closed the door, Peter started to climb down the wall of the building. He yelled a ‘Mr. Stark!’ and jumped, landing in front of the other man.

“Damn it, kid.” Tony muttered, with a hand on his chest. “Heart condition, remember?”

“S-sorry, Mr. Stark, but I, I couldn’t let you leave like that.” Peter said with a frown on his face.

“Like what?” the engineer asked, taking off his glasses and massaging the bridge of his nose. “Like you didn’t almost get killed because of me before I even knew who you are?”

“That wasn’t your fault!” Peter exclaimed, offended.

“Not my-? Kid, it was _my_ expo!” he shouted.

“Yeah, but the robots weren’t your doing! If I remember correctly, it was Hammer and Vanko and the freaking _American Army_ that screwed up; not you.” The kid said, crossing his arms. Tony could almost physically _see_ the stubbornness radiating out of the kid.

“Air Force.” He said. At Peter’s confused look he clarified “It was the Air Force, not the Army. Rhodey hammered the difference into me decades ago. He’ll chew your ear off if you confuse them when he’s around.”

“I get to met _War Machine_?” Peter said, awed. Then he cleared his throat and straightened his back. “Still. It wasn’t your fault. I was a stupid kid and didn’t run and stayed there like my gloves could take out a, a fucking _robot_. Ben was _so_ mad at me. After you took off, he found me and made me promise _never_ to tell Aunt May.” The teen looked sheepishly at the engineer. “So please don’t tell her?” Tony sighed.

“Alright, alright. This stays between us.” Peter’s smile was big and contagious, so Tony didn’t have a choice but to give him a small one back. “But I reserve the right to use this if you ever misbehave and you need a time out. I’m sure she’ll ground you for a few days.”

The betrayed look that passed the teen’s face was funny and the chocked and high ‘ _Mr_. _Stark_!’ that followed was hilarious. The engineer laughed for a few moments, before he put his hand on Peter’s shoulder, opening his mouth. Before he could say anything, though, he was interrupted.

“Nice pants, Peter _._ ” said a neighbor that was entering the building, winking at him. Peter’s face flushed for a second, but then he breathed and answered with a huge smile.

 “Thanks, Nicky! They were a present and are really comfortable. I’m sure I can get you a pair to go with your ‘punk Hello Kitty’ shirt.”

“Cool!” said the woman, before waving at the pair and closing the door. When Peter turned to face Mr. Stark again, the man had a flabbergasted expression on his face.

“What?” asked the teen, feeling self-conscious.

“Nothing, just…That…did not played out the way I was expecting.” The engineer said, shaking his head. Then he put his glasses back on and started walking towards his car. He got in and before closing the door, he spoke:

“I’m glad you like the outfit I bought you.” He winked at the teen and drove away.

\---{}---

\---{}---

\---{}---

 “So…she knows now.” Ned summed up. It was Monday morning, and both were sitting outside. Peter was trying to catch Ned up on everything that had happened over the weekend.

“Yeah” sighed Peter “she knows. And she’s talking to Mr. Stark almost every day now, trying to keep me from breaking ‘boundaries’.” He said, making the quotes with his fingers.

“Sweet!” Ned exclaimed, surprising Peter.

“What? Didn’t you hear me? My aunt is _embarrassing me every day in front of Mr. Stark_. How is that sweet?” he asked, almost offended.

“Oh, not that part. That part sucks.” Ned reassured him quickly. “I meant that now that your Aunt knows (and she’s not going to the police or threatening you to hang the webs) we can tell people!” he ended with a big smile.

“Tell people? No, of course not!” hissed Peter, looking around to make sure no one was listening.

“Why not? Dude, we’d be _so_ popular! Everyone would love you!”

“Yeah, if they even believe me.” 

“We can show them! Get everyone in the school in the gymnasium and you can wear the suit and-”

“ _No_ , we will _not_ tell the whole school that I’m a superhero!!” he half whispered, half yelled.

“Why not? Dude, that’s like, the most impressive thing you could do! You’d be the king of our school!”Ned kept going, full of eagerness.

“There are more important things than impressing people in _high school_ , Ned!!”

“Like what!?” Ned asked, not seeing the issue.

“Oh, I don’t know” he said, voice dripping with sarcasm “like saving people, staying alive, keeping my identity a _secret!?_ ”

“Why on _Earth_ would you want to keep that a secret!? It’s awesome!” Ned yelled, getting mad.

“Yes, it’s awesome, when it’s not putting the people I care about in danger!” Peter responded.

“The whole world knows who Iron Man and War Machine are! And Ms. Potts and Colonel Rhodes’ family are perfectly safe!”

“ _Safe_? Do you have amnesia or something? Ms. Potts was kidnapped and experimented on not even five years ago! It was a fucking miracle that she survived! Happy got blown up; he barely made it!” Peter was getting agitated.

“Yeah, but that was years ago. That hasn’t happened since, right?” asked Ned, secured in his knowledge.

“ _Seriously_?” Peter said, baffled. “They are rich people! They have bodyguards and-and they are public figures! If something happened to them, the world would know in a heartbeat. Besides, everyone knows that they count with Tony Stark’s protection.”

“What about Spider-Man’s protection?”

“Really, Ned? The _minute_ people find out I’m still a teenager, they’ll lose any respect or fear of me!” Ned tried to say something, but Peter cut him off. “ _No_ , Ned. I won’t make my aunt (or you or any of my friends) a target. It’s not happening. No one else can know about this, you hear me? _No_ _one_.” With that, he turned around and left. The Vulture’s threat kept repeating in his mind, eyes cold as ice and _-ill you and everybody you love kill you and everybody you love kill you and everybody you love kill yo-_

\---{}---

\---{}---

\---{}---

Peter couldn’t wait until the bell rang and the school day was over. It’s not like it used to be before; when the suit was new to him and he felt he had to prove something every time he put it on.

No, for once, the reason why he _ached_ to go home had nothing to do with Spider-Man. Well, it _did_ …but it didn’t, at the same time. He wasn’t in a rush to go to a back alley and change; he just wanted to get the hell out of the building he was currently trapped in. The fight he had with Ned this morning was going in circles in his head. They hadn’t talked to each other since their argument. They spent the whole morning ignoring the other’s presence and only speaking when it was necessary for an assignment. At lunch, Peter had walked into the cafeteria and promptly walked out when he saw Ned and MJ sitting in their usual table. Appetite gone, he only ate an apple. Peter just wanted to forget it and pretend it never happen. But he _knew_ it wasn’t possible; because Ned was the least subtle person Peter has ever met (and that included Tony Stark) and they would have to talk about it in order to put it pass them.

Only; they have already had this discussion multiple times. And each time Peter said no. He couldn’t just give away his identity. He _wouldn’t_. He was terrified (had been ever since the Vulture ended behind bars; fearing that the man would try to use the information to send someone to kill him…or May, or Ned) of people finding out about it. In the two weeks following Homecoming, Ned had been there, as the guy in the chair, every time Spider-Man went patrolling. Every mugger stopped, every rape avoided, every theft thwarted, every direction Peter wasn’t sure of; Ned was on his ear (he was there when Karen wasn’t, when she couldn’t be); guiding him and providing commentary. It was so...freeing, having someone to talk to. And it grounded him, too. Ned provided options that Peter wouldn’t have thought of, tried to make him see his limitations (not that Peter always listened, but still). Peter _knew_ that he was really, really lucky to have Ned as his friend. He _trusted_ Ned.

But at the same time…at the same time he was terrified that Ned would just blurt it out (to Flash, or MJ, or the entire team). And then…then Peter would have to deny it (and put up with the mean jokes and the bulling) and paint Ned as a liar; or would have to come forward and _prove_ he was Spider-Man; and paint a huge target on Aunt May, all of his friends and himself. And the thing was…Peter didn’t know what he would choose; if that happened. Because he knew, he just _knew_ that if he denied everything; school would be hell for Ned. Flash would _never_ stop. But if he revealed himself as Spider-Man? He would be putting everyone in danger. It might be selfish of him; but he _liked_ his life as it was. Why did Ned feel the urge to change that?

\---{}---

Finally, the bell rang and Peter left. He knew Ned had Robotics right now (and he would usually wait for him if he could); but today he escaped. He was just going to go to MJ’s to ask her about their Spanish homework and then head home. Maybe take a nap; before patrolling at night (he wasn’t even excited about being allowed to wear Mr. Stark’s suit again, not anymore).

But of course the universe couldn’t agree with him. Because the _one_ day Peter didn’t want to think about putting on the suit; there was a robbery happening in the alley _just in front of him_. He knew that he was the only one able to hear what was going on, because the thieves had covered the victims’ mouths with their hands. Cursing, Peter ran and crossed the street. Then he hid behind a dumpster and dug up his suit from under his homework. With the suit on, he climbed the side of the building until he reached the roof.

The minute Peter put eyes on the situation; he knew it wasn’t going to be easy.

“Karen” he whispered.

“ _Yes, Peter?”_ she answered instantly, like she always did.

“Text Ned. Say it’s you and that I’m trying to stop a robbery, but that there are two robbers and three kids involved. It’s urgent. I need my guy in the chair.” A minute later, the connection came live.

“ _[Peter]_ ” Ned started, obviously agitated. He must have run from the shop to the computer science lab. _“[What’s going on?]_ ”

“I need you to help me think how to handle this.” He whispers. “Karen, give him visual.”

“ _[Got it.]_ ” Ned said when he the live footage showed up on the screen. “ _[Ugh; that’s ugly.]_ ”

“Yeah, tell me about it. These guys are obviously enjoying scaring these kids to death.” Peter hissed, watching.

“ _[It sure seems so. Shit, Peter!]_ ” Ned exclaimed suddenly.

“What? What is it?”

“ _[One of them (the guy with the flannel shirt) has a knife out!]”_

“Crap. What do I do?”

“ _[Why would I know? You are the superhero.]”_ Ned answered, a bit prickly.

“I don’t _know_ Ned; because you probably know this suit better than I do! Is there any web I can use?” Peter asked, trying to think about the _hundred_ of combinations.

“ _[You…could try to aim really well at the blade with the acid one?]_ ”Ned suggested.

“I have _acid_ in this suit!?” he yelped, surprised and scared.

“ _You have, Peter. But it is well isolated; the acid would never touch your skin.”_ Karen answered.

“Shit, shit, shit. Okay.” He breathed in, then out. “Can it melt…whatever metal that is?” he asked Karen.

“ _Certainly. That one would be combination 2-6-8.”_

“Alright. Ned, give me a hand here? I want to melt the knife, not this guy’s hand.” Peter said, adjusting the web-shooter.

“ _[Okay. You need to aim to the right…a 43° angle, so that it will bounce on the wall and take the knife out of his hand. And then melt it. You have a three seconds window since you shoot until it starts to disintegrate the metal; so you have to put enough strength into it. It’ a one shot deal.]”_

\---{}---

Nothing went as planned.

One of the kids saw him in the roof and yelled his name, ruining the element of surprise completely. Peter still managed to get the knife out of the guy’s hand, but the man would have to be treated for mild chemical burns on his hand. Peter had apologized profusely as soon as the man started to scream; but the second robber didn’t seem to care when he grabbed a kid and _threw her at him_. Spider-Man managed to grab the child mid air and get her to the floor. Then he shielded her and the other two so they could run out of the alley and onto the street.

By then the thief already had shot at him a couple of rounds (those would surely leave bruises) and, seeing that those wouldn’t stop him, by now had part of a table in his hands. He surprised Peter with a hit that sent him to the ground and then bashed the piece of wood repeatedly against the hero’s head, until it broke. Then he kicked Peter in the middle and shoulder a few times. Seeing that the hero wouldn’t get up, the second robber grabbed the weeping man and together they started to leave.

Peter saw this and tried to shoot a web at them, but the thief still had the gun. He walked closer and aimed it at his head. The last thing Spider-Man heard before passing out was the deafening sound of the shots. Then he felt the bullets impact on his forehead and blacked out.

\---{}---  

“ _-ter”_

_“[Parke-]”_

_“-eter”_

“ _[…answer me, damn it!]”_

“Guys?” Peter asked, disoriented. “Ned?”

“ _[Finally, Peter! We’ve been calling for you for a minute and a half! I can’t believe you passed out! Actually I can’t believe you are still **breathing** after two bullets to the head; although of course I can, because Tony Stark makes the best suits and-]”_

“Ned, sto-op.” Groaned the hero; clenching at his head. “I can’t… hear…well. I’m…dizzy.”

“ _You have sustained a severe concussion, Peter. You also have bruised ribs, a cracked scapula and are bleeding from the head.”_ Karen reported, sounding worried. _“Mr. Stark has been notified, though unfortunately he is in another state. He highly recommended you to hide until he can take you home.”_

“Mr. Stark? No…he will be so worried…” Peter lamented, trying to get up. “Can’t I just…lie here? I’m comfy…here.”

“ _[No, no, no, you can’t. The police are less than five minutes away. You **have** to get out of there or you’ll be arrested.]”_ Ned explained.

Now that Peter thought about it; the ringing he was hearing wasn’t only in his head. He could hear sirens too. It was _annoying_ , he wanted silence.

“ _[-it; I’m calling MJ.]”_ He heard Ned say, and that made him react.

“What? What for?”

“ _[Because you can barely stay awake right now and won’t be able to get out of there alone. Climb the building or swing away even less.]”_

“But why MJ? What does she have to do with…with anything?” Peter asked, trying to get his eyes to _focus_.

“ _[Peter; you are in her street. She lives in the next edifice over.]”_ Ned says, really worried right now.

“No. No. She…can’t find out. I’ll-I’ll just stay on the roof of one of these buildings.”

“ _I very much doubt you’ll be able to climb, Peter. You should listen to Ned.”_

“No! Don’t do it.” Peter refused, even as he heard the sirens coming closer. “Just…direct me towards a building that has a fire escape, alright? You’ll have to direct me, though, because I can’t see shit with blood on my eyes.” Pause. _Long_ pause.

“ _[Fine. But if you get arrested, you better not spill my name.]”_

“Duh; I’d never.”

“ _[Ok. Keep walking.]”_ After a few moments Peter spoke.

“Isn’t far enough?”

“ _No, keep walking. Keep walking. Stop. Now… jump and catch the ladder.]”_ Peter has to try a few times, clenching his middle with one arm; all the while letting pain filled groans escape his throat. Finally, he managed. He supported himself on the metal frame, resting his throbbing head in the cold surface for a few seconds; whishing he could just stay there until everything stopped spinning and hurting so much. _“[Peter. Peter. **Spider-Man!**_ ” Peter jumped and shook his head to clear it (not that it helped). _“[Focus. Now go up the stairs. You need to get to the fifth floor.]”_

“What? Noo…” he whined, as his body slowly, slowly moved. “Why?”

“ _[Because otherwise the police will see you and follow you up.]”_

“Alright.” Peter whispered, still climbing. “Tell me when I can stop.”

The ascent lasted for what felt an eternity. In a corner of his mind, Peter bet Ned was biting his nails, nervous out of his mind.

“How much more? I-I can’t more, I need to rest.” Peter mumbled. The fact that he sounded sleepier every time he talked was a bad sing.

“ _[Just one more floor, buddy.]”_

“No, no more, please. Here it’s fine. I can’t hear anyone.” His legs trembled and he fell on his knees. “I’ll…rest here for a bit.” He could feel his mind slipping away, floating somewhere.

“ _[Peter, don´t you **dare!** ”_ the scream broke the fog on his brain. _“[You **have** to go up another floor.]”_ Peter whined and Ned let out something that resembled a growl out of frustration. _“[Come on, Parker, you can do it.]”_

 On hands and knees, Peter clumsily moved one step at a time. By the last one, his breathing was heavy and painful, and all of his limbs trembled.

“Did I do it…Is here fine?” he mumbled, before crashing. His arm was at an awkward angle under his torso, and his ribs were burning and he could feel the blood, warm and thick, spread down his face.

 “ _[…shit, Michelle, hurry!]”_

\---{}---

\---{}---

\---{}---

Peter regained consciousness slowly. His everything hurt _everywhere_. He tried to move, but his side strongly protested to that. So did his arm. And his back. And _god_ , his _head_. He sighed and tried to touch his forehead, which seemed to be the source of the pain. His vision was a bit murky. Then he noticed the red and blue of the suit and sat up in a jump. His heartbeat was out of the charts. His ribs were hurting real bad but he ignored it, trying to find out where he was. He looked around, and saw he was in a bedroom (not his, or Ned’s, or one in the Compound). He swallowed. Then he saw the photo on the nightstand and something clicked in his brain.

“ _…long until he gets here?”_

“ _Mr. Stark said an hour, hour and a half.”_ Ned. Ned was talking to someone.

 _“He’s gonna help me clean this mess up, right?”_ That was MJ, always practical.  Peter’s eyes widened and he touched his face again. He didn’t have his mask on. _Fuck!_ He cursed mentally. 

He grabbed his mask that was in the pillow next to him and walked out of the bedroom. Ned and Michelle were talking in the hallway, trying to clean up a trail of blood.

“What. did. you. _do_. Ned?” he asked, punctuating every word. The other boy jumped, startled, but MJ just arched an eyebrow.

“I-I told you that the police was too close. And Mr. Stark was in another state. So I called MJ, like I said I would, and she helped you.”

“You are really heavy, Parker.” The girl said, huffing. “My arms are going to be so sore tomorrow.” She added.

Peter grabbed Ned’s arm and tugged him a few feet away.

“Ned” he hissed “what the _hell?_ ”

“What?” he said, breaking Peter’s grip. “The police came _this close_ to find you. Wasn’t that what you were so desperately trying to avoid?” the other boy sarcastically asked.

“This is not better!” Peter yelled, yanking at his hair and regretting it dearly. “You didn’t have to do this! I could have-”

“What? What could you have done? You barely made it to the fifth floor. MJ had to _drag you_ to her bedroom.”

“You could have just left me there! I would have gotten better and then-”

“And then _what_? You have been out for _hours_! You really think no one would have seen you and called the cops? Any sane person would have called the cops to arrest a vigilante passed out on their fire escape.” Ned said, annoyed.

“Apparently I’m not a sane person.” Michelle piped in, face blank. Peter ignored her.

“That was not your decision to make!”

“Actually it _was_ , because I was the only one able to call for _help_.”

“You had no right to expose me like that! I’m compromised now!” Peter yelled back, raging.

“If you think _this_ compromises you, Parker, you are more delusional than I thought.” MJ deadpanned.

“Shut it, Michelle. This doesn’t involve you. It _shouldn’t_ involve you.” He remarked. “But because someone couldn’t keep his mouth _shut_ -”

“It’s my job as your guy in the chair, to make sure you don’t die in a ditch!” Ned yelled, throwing his hands in the air.

“Then maybe I need another guy in the chair!” the hero screamed.

Then he put his mask on and jumped out of the window, swinging away.

Michelle and Ned watched him leave; Ned with a sense of dread and bubbling anger and Michelle definitely unimpressed.

“He could have used the door, you know.” She said, before turning around and leaving to get more cleaning products.

The blood wasn’t going to magically disappear.

\---{}---

\---{}---

\---{}---

Peter barely made it home. He was feeling dizzy all over again; and his ribs were killing him. But his back had to be the worst; he had definitely aggravated his scapula injury with the swinging. He had enough forethought to grab two especial protein bars from the kitchen (Mr. Stark had come up with them as soon as Peter told him that his metabolism was a problem); because he knew that his recovery would go faster if he was well fed and he hadn’t really eaten since breakfast. Then he locked himself in his bedroom, without even taking his suit off. He just…wanted to sleep until everything made sense again. God, the _things_ he said to Ned… _Stupid, stupid, stupid!! Parker, you are such a jerk._

\---{}---

“I know it’s difficult to accept you messed up, Peter, but you have to apologize.” Said Tony; trying to not seem _too_ exasperated. He wanted the teen to open up to him, not shut down on him. It was probing to be more and more difficult, though. Tony understood the teen angst perfectly (he went through the same things, minus the powers) but if the kid continued to be an absolute _asshole_ , he would end up without the much needed support on those fateful years. And yeah, Tony might be a little over dramatic; but god knows he would have never survived _his_ teenage years without Rhodey.

“Peter, you need to say sorry to Ned and Michelle. What you said was incredibly rude and unfair. They were just helping you.” May said, hoping that a miracle would happen and Peter would actually listen.

“ _Helping_ _me?_ ” A voice from inside could be heard. “ _Ned revealed my identity five **hours** after I explicitly told him not to!_ ” Peter yelled. He was obviously pretty worked up.

“Ned didn’t have another choice, honey-” his aunt started, but Tony interrupted her. If the kid wanted to be treated like an adult, he needed to stop acting like a brat. And enabling him wouldn’t help. 

“Oh, grow up, Parker! They saved your ass!” he exclaimed loudly, ready to break the lock on the door in another minute if Peter didn’t drag his butt outside. “It’s because of them that you are not in a cell god-knows-where!”

“ _Oh, come on! It was only the police! I could have avoided them without help!_ ” the teen cried out, offended.

“Really? Is that why you passed out; because you could _handle it_?” Tony snarled and then took a few deep breaths before talking again. “If they had caught you, it wouldn’t have just been ‘the police’. You are a super-human now, Peter. _And_ technically…you are a vigilante. _And_ a minor. All of that would mean that A) the police would have called someone to deal with the super-human bit and you’d probably end up dealing with Ross; and B) your aunt could have been sent to trail for negligence and would have probably lost your custody, meaning that the State would have taken you in.”

Both adults waited for an answer, but there was only silence for a long time.  Encouraged, Tony kept talking.

“We are trying to get rid of Ross, and to make the Accords more sensible, but that kind of things take _time_. If the cops had caught you…I would have intervened, of course, but your identity would have become public knowledge (at least to all the powerful people interested in super-humans).” Still no answer. “And you behaved like a complete jerk to your friends; considering they had to drag your heavy persona to the bedroom.” More silence. The adults looked at each other, and with a nod from May, Tony activated his watch.

Then, the sound of the window closing took them by surprise. Tony rushed to open the door; but Peter was already gone, swinging between the buildings of Queens.

Tony sighed and massaged his temples. Dealing with teenagers was the _worst_.

\---{}---

\---{}---

\---{}---

“You realize that if I didn’t know you are Spider-Man, I’d be seriously worried right now?” Tony said, stepping out of his suit.

“Can you please just…not?” Peter asked, balancing his legs over the edge of the building.

It was one of the tallest on the city; and he liked to sit here and watch everything unfold from the top. It was rather peaceful, if you didn’t care about the noise.

“Do what?” asked the engineer; sitting next to Peter.

“Not do this…whole ‘surrogate-dad’ thing. The ‘ _it’s all going to be okay in the morning; you’ll find someone else_ ’ spiel.”

Tony chuckled, shaking his head. _Kids these days_ , he thought. Then he winced, because damn, things like that made him feel old.

“Kid, Ned is not one of your teenage crushes. He is your best friend; your ‘guy in the chair’, right?” the genius asked, looking down. Tony had the sudden thought that he was lucky not to have problem with heights, because they were pretty up high.

“…Yeah.” Peter mumbled; shoulders dropping from the defensive position they had been in since he heard the repulsors.

“Believe me, Pete, your best friend is going to be your anchor.” Tony said, smiling. “Especially in this kind of lifestyle.”

“So you don’t believe that high school friendships end when we graduate?” the teen asked, sounding miserable.

“I know our experiences are pretty different, kiddo, but I really don’t. I mean, I was already in MIT when I met Rhodey, but I _was_ fourteen. And despite petty fights, huge fights, betrayals and months of not seeing each other; we are still here. I’m still his pain-in-the-ass little brother and he’s still my platypus.” Peter smiled a little at that.

“It’s just…” he sighed. “It’s just, sometimes I feel like he’s jealous, you know? Like he wished he had these powers instead of me.”

“Peter…” Tony said gently, putting his hand on the kid’s shoulder. “…of course he’s jealous sometimes. He’s human. _And_ a teen. Anyone would be at least a little envious if their best friend suddenly can do the things you wished your whole life you could do. It doesn’t mean anything. I would get so jealous whenever Jim presented a girl to his parents, or made new friends; because that’s something I was never good at. It didn’t help that I wished I could have a family like his. And he envied my mind sometimes, the first few years. He got into MIT on a scholarship, you see, and keeping his GPA was hard in between all of his classes and his Basic Training. Me, on the other hand…I rarely went to classes and still aced almost every test. He resented that and it hurt me; because kids my age (or older) in school would always do that and would beat me when I said I wouldn’t do their homework for them. But I didn’t want to lose his friendship; so I did something I had never done before. I tried to do his homework.” He laughed “Man; that did _not_ work out the way I wanted; like, at _all_. He got so offended and I couldn’t see _why_ and we fought. Badly.” He breathed in deeply, eyes far away. Peter felt guilty for making him sad, but he really wanted to hear the end of the story, so he said nothing.

>>“It was awful. Our first big argument and we didn’t talk to each other for almost a month, but it felt like so much more. At the end, Mama Rhodes had to come and force us to talk to each other. She said she was tired of Jim moping over the phone on every call and that she missed hearing me geek out about Star Trek or science with her boy over the land line. So we patched things up. He tried to include me more often with his friends and class mates (though that not always worked) and I learned not to do things _for him_ and just offer my help and let him decide if he wanted it.”

None of them spoke for a while; Tony watching the city lights and Peter taking in and processing everything the engineer had said to him.

“And things went back to normal?” The teen asked, hopeful now.

“After a while. It took time. But our friendship became stronger because of it.” He seemed so sure about that so Peter had no choice but to believe him.

“We don’t have a Mama Rhodes, though. Aunt May doesn’t know half of it and we try to keep her out of it unless it’s super necessary.” Peter mused, thinking about all the patrols that May would skin him for (especially if she knew he didn’t have the Kevlar suit and was out on his ‘Spidey-pajamas’, as Tony liked to call them).

“But you have me!” Tony said with a grin.

“What? No, no, no Mr. Stark-”the teen startled.

“Come on kid! Put on your mask and I’ll let you surf of my back” he winked. “Otherwise, I’ll just carry you bridal style, like a damsel in distress. Bet _that_ will get a smile out of Ned.” He laughed and got up.

Peter sighed, but picked up his mask and put it on. He _did_ owe Ned an apology. Michelle too. And…well, surfing on Iron Man’s back seems pretty cool (he’s been trying to convince Tony of that the whole weekend, he’s not gonna say _no_ ).

“By the way, when was the last time you ate? You know you heal better when your body is nourished and my scans show that your healing rate is slower than usual. I’m pretty sure you are hungry.”

Peter’s stomach growled as in agreement, and the teen groaned. Tony could be such a _dad!_

\---{}---

\---{}---

\---{}---

Peter managed to convince Mr. Stark that the apology could wait until the next day; because he really needed a shower, and was _famished_ when they got back to his apartment. Besides, Peter hoped that Ned and Michelle’s anger would wane a bit if he gave it more time.

Also, he needed the time to come up with a good apology. Ned was a great friend, but he could hold a grudge like no one else Peter knew. And it was the first time he had ever fought with MJ (he was kind of terrified of her, to be honest). He spent the whole trip to the school trying to think what to say and how to make it up to them, when he saw Michelle getting out of her parent’s car. _This it’s it_ , he thought, _you can’t postpone this, Peter._ He breathed in a few times and started to walk again.

“MJ!” he called, making her stop. He caught up to her and swallowed. “I just wanted to say, thank you. For- for yesterday.” She gave him a _Look_ and he fidgeted. “I really appreciate what you did for me and…I-I’m sorry for being…”he drifted, not sure how to continue.

“…a jerk?” she asked, lifting an eyebrow. He flushed.

“Yeah, among other things. It’s just…too much all of the sudden, you know? My aunt found out the other day and now you and-” he saw MJ smile and stopped. “What?”

“Peter, do you really think I didn’t know about it? Or at least strongly suspected?”

“Wha-what? _How_?” Peter asked, flabbergasted.

“Well, there are a lot of things. Like you suddenly disappearing for the ‘Stark Internship Retreat’ you went to, that coincidentally matched the date Spider-Man was seen in Germany. The new suit (that it’s obviously Stark tech) that Spider-Man wore ever since, that coincides with you getting the internship. You leaving band practice and dropping out of the team; while Spider-Man is seen more and more often.” Peter’s jaw was in the floor, but Michelle just kept going. “You just showed up and asked to rejoin before we went to Washington, never made it to the competition, and Spider-Man just _showing up_ to save the team, despite the fact that, with the exception of Germany, he was never seen outside of New York. The Ferry accident and you losing the Stark Internship and Spider-Man disappearing all at the same time. You going back to normal while Spider-Man is out of commission. Spider-Man fighting a supervillain in _pijamas-_ ”

“Okay, okay, I get it!” he yelled, looking around to see if anyone was listening to her monologue. No one was, luckily. “You know me very well.” He said, still amazed. She rolled her eyes.

“More like you are really obvious, Parker. I think that anyone in this school could easily found out if they were willing to believe Spider-Man could be a teenager.”

“Okay, then.” He fidgeted. “Thank you for keeping my secret. And I’m sorry, again.”

“Who says I haven’t already told the police?” she asked, with a completely straight face. Peter felt his heart stop-“Just kidding. As long as you don’t expect me to keep saving your ass and cleaning your mess, we’re good.” With that she patted him in the arm and walked into the building.

 _One down, one to go_ , Peter thought, nervous. He swallowed and climbed the stairs.

\---{}---

Ned’s apology was very anticlimactic. He wouldn’t let Peter apologize _per se_ , cutting him off midway to talk to someone else, or walking away or sitting in a different place or changing seat partners. He went as far as putting on headphones when he saw Peter coming in the hallways and dialing the volume all the way up, knowing that the other teen couldn’t stand such loud music for long.

Peter lived with his hearth in his throat the whole day, fearing that Mr. Stark might be wrong and he had lost his best friend for being a stubborn ass.

Finally, before the last period, Ned let the other teen approach, but didn’t look at him. Peter was biting his lip not to blurt everything he wanted to say, but when Ned finally looked at him and nodded, he couldn’t hold it back anymore.

“I’m sorry, I’m so sorry! I was a jerk and an idiot and I don’t know what I was thinking because you are my best friend and the only person I’d want to be my guy in the chair and I wanted to say thank you too; because you care and you looked for a way to help me because I needed it, even when I didn’t want it and please don’t hate me I just really want to go back to being friends.”

There was a tense pause and Peter could hear his heartbeat going crazier every second.

“First, I acknowledge your apology,” When Peter opened his mouth Ned lifted a finger and continued: “but I don’t accept it yet. Second, I want you to actually listen to my advice and not just brush it off.” Enthusiastic nodding “Third, and the most important thing, I want to meet the Vision.” At Peter’s expression, Ned rushed to clarify “Of course I want to see the whole Compound and meet Mr. Stark too, but the Vision is just _so cool_.”

When Peter saw the amused and eager expression on his friend’s face, he knew he was forgiven. So he nodded and they did their secret handshake.

“I should have known that would be your price. Fortunately, Mr. Stark agreed to take you to the Compound and give you a few hacking classes; so I guess you’ll meet Vision (and Rhodey and Happy) soon enough.”

“Sweet!” Ned said, overjoyed. “Apology accepted.” He winked.

While Ned and Peter were still waiting for the ring to go to class; the ‘spidey-sense’ activated. The hallways were beginning to fill with whispers and exclamations of shock. Everybody was watching something on their cells; watching the same stream. Peter quickly approached the closest phone and paid attention.

_“In the Ridgewood Savings Bank, the situation is going from bad to worse. A few hostages have been released, but just moments ago we heard gunshots. There’s no visual for the SWAT team and the Accords Pannel are not letting the Avengers help yet. Thermal images might be able to help the police, but-”_

“I have to go” said Peter to Ned. The other teen nodded, already turning and walking towards the computer lab. Peter ran to the bathroom and escaped through the window. He wouldn’t change near his school, not after what Michelle told him.

\---{}---

\---{}---

\---{}---

“ _You should contact Mr. Stark, Peter._ ” Karen suggested, sounding insecure.

“Karen-”

“ _[She’s right, man. The last time we tried to do this alone it didn’t end very well.]”_ Ned said, as he analyzed the live footage of the suit.

“It’d be useless. The Panel won’t let him help; and if he knows I am in ‘danger’, Mr. Stark would break the Accords trying to help me. I can’t let that happen.” Peter refused.

“ _Peter-”_ the AI started.

“Guys-”

“ _[Alright; how about this: you go in with us as back-up, but the **second** something goes wrong, I call Mr. Stark. And that’s **it**.]”_ Ned said, inflexible.

“Okay, okay.” He breathed in and out a few times. “Let’s do this.” With that, he shot a web and jumped. He was inside the bank in a few seconds.

\---{}---

 “Crap, crap, crap, crap” muttered Ned, while he frantically tried to get back Peter’s visual, or audio, or _anything_. He decided to call Mr. Stark anyways.

“Mr. Sta-”

“ _Please tell me that red blur that entered the building three minutes ago was **not** Spider-Man.”_ The inventor said as soon as the line connected.

“…”

“ _Damn it, kid! What the hell were you two thinking!?”_

“The news said that the Panel wouldn’t let you go; so Peter tried to help!”

“ _The Panel didn’t let me, because we think this is a set-up. The ‘hostages’ have no backgrounds, no names, nothing.”_

“Crap.”

“ _Yeah, pretty much.”_ Mr. Stark sighed. “ _Okay, how is it looking in there?”_

“…” Ned swallowed. “That’s the reason I called you. I lost contact with Peter and Karen 50 seconds ago.”

 _“And you’re just telling me this **now**!?”_ he swore in a few different languages and talked quickly with someone “ _I swear, teenagers are the fucking worst thing to ever happen to humanity. What the hell was I thinking? Alright, kid, I’m going in._ ”

“Good luck, Mr. Stark.” Ned said, mainly because he didn’t know what else to say. He’d have to look up cool phrases from like, Q or Oracle.

\---{}---

Tony was getting really tired of feeling like his heart was going to burst out of his chest from worry. This was one of the reasons why he had never tried to procreate. First Harley managed to reverse-engineer his armor to ‘watch your back, since you clearly can’t do it on your own’; and now this? _I swear I’m gonna ground him so bad_ …he paused himself right there, before he continued the thought. _Damn, I **do** sound like a worried dad._ He closed the door he had to melt to enter the building, and started walking, trying to hear Peter. The kid never shut up and he chose _now_ to be quiet?  

Suddenly he heard a ‘clang’ to his back, and when he was turning, someone shot a device that stuck to his armor, and started to power everything down. _This must be what happened to Peter. His suit isn’t equipped to deal with an EMP that can take **my** armor out._ A brunet woman (he could have considered her beautiful, if her cruel smile wasn’t so off putting) appeared from the shadows.

“Hello, Mr. Stark. So nice of you to join us. I was hoping to avoid seeing you, but my soldiers seem unable to take on the little spider.” She said, looking furious. The man standing beside her shivered. Yeah, Tony wouldn’t want to be in his shoes.

“So you did all of this to get him?” Iron Man asked, trying to stall. The armor was rebooting, but that would take a few moments. He was also curious, trying to seize up the threat. Meanwhile, Spider-Man was on the first floor, dodging the blasts and the darts of the soldiers. Tony really needed to help him.

“Of course! It’s so blatantly _obvious_ that your ‘Spider-Man’ is a child still. It was so easy to design a trap that would make him crawl out.” the green-clad woman gloated “He’s as strong as Captain America (some say even stronger) and has a few other abilities that we can use. After the terrible loss of our Winter Soldiers, well…we need another test subject.” Tony’s eyes widen and his mind froze for a second. “No witty come backs, Stark? This kid must really mean a lot to you.” A sick grin spread across her face “Even better. You will lose your life at the hands of this child; once we are through with his conditioning. Just as you lost your parents to the first Winter Soldier.” Her laugh was cut short when she had to get out of the way of a repulsor blast.

“Stay.the hell.away.from _my kid!_ ” Tony yelled, shooting the missiles in his shoulders at the goons that were protecting this ‘Madame Hydra’ (oh, he liked that; he was going with that for the press conference).

The ensuing chaos was utterly unavoidable and completely rewarding. Peter took advantage of the distraction he caused to trap some goons on his webs. He might not be able to use the web-shooters, but the web-fluid is powerful and not much was needed to completely cover half the men in the substance.

Meanwhile, Tony busied himself with shooting at the obviously more experienced fighters that were covering for Madame Hydra’s exit. He taked out the EMP gun first; and subsequently he shot at their knees and middle, trying to incapacitate them and not particularly caring if they lived of not after this.

 Then he went after the woman. She threw a grenade at him but he slapped it to the side, towards a group of men that were trying to creep on Peter. He caught up to her when she was reaching the door; hurling her back at the centre of the building. He cuffed her hands and feet and turned around to help the kid, only to find him casually ( _too_ casually) leaning against a pillar. There were dozens of men completely covered in webs: hanging from the ceiling and other pillars, stuck to the floor or the walls and (Tony’s favorite) a huge bundle of web, people and elements (parts of guns and debriefs) just moving around, because the men inside couldn’t separate themselves from the others or from _that_ particular piece of whatever that was poking them. When Madame Hydra started throwing insults and screeching about HYDRA’s superiority, Peter grabbed a bit of web and taped her mouth shut.

Tony just shook his head and laughed. Explaining the property damage and why exactly he went in without explicit permission to the Panel might be a problem; but at least SWAT, the NYPD and the media were going to have a good day.

 _Kids,_ the genius thought, _even if they are reckless and stubborn and a **pain in my ass** , sometimes they have good ideas._

\---{}---

After calling the SWAT team in and explaining the situation so that they would focus on the real bad guys; Tony steered Spider-Man away from where he was explaining to a few officers how many men there actually were in the bank right now (with all the webbing, they can’t really tell).

“So” Peter started, and somehow Tony knew that there was a smug smile behind his mask. “Are we ‘there’ yet?”

Tony laughed.

“Yeah, kid, we are there.” He answered, chuckling. He stretched an arm and pulled the kid to his chest, hugging him tight. Peter didn’t seem to care the hard metal of the suit; he just squeezed harder, so that Tony would feel it.

They were dirty and sweaty and hurting in places they shouldn’t be hurting; but they were whole and they were _alive_. Peter was _safe_ , this fucking organization lost. And so will any other that might want to take his kid away.

Problems might still arise; with the Panel, the cops, etc. But for now it was okay.

It was enough. They deserved this.

\---{}---

\---{}---

\---{}---

**Author's Note:**

> So? What do you think?  
> Leave kudos or a comment ;P
> 
> Kisses!


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